Distortions to Agricultural
Incentives in Africa

One of every two people in Sub-Saharan
Africa survives on less than $1.25 a day. That proportion
has changed little over the past three decades, unlike in
Asia and elsewhere, so the region's share of global
poverty has risen from one-tenth to almost one-third since
1980. About 70 percent of today's 400 million poor
Africans live in rural areas and depend directly or
indirectly on farming for their livelihoods. While that
rural share was even higher in the past, it means policies
affecting the incentives for farmers to produce and sell
farm products remain a major influence on the extent of
Africa's poverty. The case studies help address
questions such as the following: where is there still a
policy bias against agricultural production? To what extent
are some farmers now being protected from import
competition? What are the political economic forces behind
the more-successful reformers, and how do they compare with
those in less-successful countries where major distortions
in agricultural incentives remain? How important have
domestic political forces been in bringing about reform, as
compared with international forces? What explains the cross
commodity pattern of distortions within the agricultural
sector of each country? What policy lessons and trade
implications can be drawn from these differing experiences
with a view to ensuring better growth-enhancing and
poverty-reducing outcomes in the study's focus
countries and in the region's other economies?